NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC
From the Editor
IT WAS A SIMPLE MEMORIAL to a simple man. Not long after the eruption of Mount St.
Helens 20 years ago this month, author Rowe Findley (above) visited the marker commem
orating Harry Truman, the stubborn old man who died in his lakeside lodge rather than run
from the mountain. Rowe, working on our article about the volcano, had become friends
with Harry, as well as with photographer Reid Blackburn, who also was lost in the blast.
"I'd been covering Mount St. Helens ever since the first tremors, so I'd been there, I knew the
people and their families," recalls Rowe. In fact, during
a recent return to the mountain with his wife, Virginia
(right), Rowe called on Blackburn's widow, Fay, and her
family. Such involvement in a story is not unusual. Our
writers and photographers spend months, even years, on
an assignment, and while they never sacrifice their profes
sionalism, they often develop lasting friendships.
"It was the most memorable story I ever worked on,"
says Rowe, who has written 18 GEOGRAPHIC articles.
"And those people will always be part of my life."
MAY 2000